During a tour of inspection of the Olympic sites Thursday, the Russian president made it clear that he expected the 95,000 workers involved in the project to work without a break until the final day of the Paralympics — and told them to postpone the winter holidays until March. “The final stage in such a massive undertaking is always difficult,” Mr Putin said in a meeting with officials. “A lot has been done, but it’s still a long way from perfection… [there is] still work to be done.

“We have the new year and Christmas holidays ahead of us. I’d like to say, I think it should be clear that for you, new year’s will come… on March 18 [the last day of the Paralympics]. For you and for everyone who is working on the Olympic venues,” he said.

Olympic officials have insisted they expect snow by the time of the Games, and have stockpiled enough snow and installed snow-making machines for insurance even if the weather does fail.